Hisham Zerriffi is an Associate Professor in Forest Resources Management at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He was previously an Assistant Professor and the Ivan Head South/North Research Chair in the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC. Dr. Zerriffi’s research is at the intersection of technology, energy and the environment, with a particular focus on rural areas of the developing world. Much of his research focuses on institutional factors impacting the diffusion of new technology, determinants and patterns of household energy choice and welfare implications of rural energy use. Prior to joining the UBC Faculty, Dr. Zerriffi was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University. Dr. Zerriffi holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy.

Projects

Residue-Based Bioenergy Production in India

Abstract: The potential of agricultural residues to contribute to India’s energy supply has been the subject of numerous technical analyses and estimates. This project addresses two key information gaps in the current state of knowledge. First is the need for more spatially explicitly information regarding potential energy production as compared to potential energy demand. Prior estimates have mainly produced national aggregate estimates but both potential energy production from residues and the demand for electricity in rural areas is highly heterogenous. Using secondary data on crop production and population estimates are made for energy production and demand at a 5 arc-min resolution scale for all of India. The second gap is regarding the markets for agricultural residues. A significant use of residues for energy production in rural India can only occur if residue markets are favourable (in terms of price, price volatility, security of supply, etc.). Conversely, extensive use of residues could result in spillover effects on other users of residues. However, markets for residues have not been extensively researched and documented. In this project a survey of ~300 rice mills in Bihar, India is used to understand how residues are disposed of, the current customer base for residues, contracts and price formation and the impact that selling residues to power generators has on the market.

Abstract: This project has four broad objectives, linked to feasible improvements in clean stove design and dissemination and their impacts on health and climate: 1) assess the acceptability and availability of different stove technologies and fuels, 2) experiment by varying stove price and social interactions among users to determine the impact of these variables on stove adoption rates, 3) measure in situ the impacts of stove adoption on indoor and outdoor air pollution, and climate-forcing, and 4) model the impacts of widespread stove adoption on regional and global climate through a range of scenarios directly informed by data from the field. The project combines survey and focus group assessment of willingness-to-pay (WTP), trials of stove dissemination examining stove adoption rates at full and partial subsidies and with different levels of social interactions between adopters; community-driven input to stove redesign; in situ emissions testing and air quality monitoring; and, climate modeling.

Monitoring and evaluation of adoption and use of LPG for cooking in rural Gujarat

Abstract: Millions of households in India rely on burning biomass to meet their basic cooking needs. This is hazardous to health as well as having other socio-economic and environmental costs. This project would establish a novel approach to disseminating cleaner cooking technologies and fuels. The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is an organization representing two million self-employed women in India. It is working with the Global Liquid Petroleum Gas Partnership (GLPGP) to both set up a women-led distribution system for clean fuels at the same time as working with their members to educate them about the benefits of clean cooking. UBC researchers will provide independent monitoring and verification of a pilot project (4000 households) as a stepping-stone to a larger project that could potentially reach a few hundred thousand households.

UBC Collaborators: Sumeet Gulati (Land and Food Systems), Michael Brauer (School of Population and Public Health)

Indigenous Community Development: Implications of Payments for Ecosystem Services

Abstract: In 2011, the province of British Columbia agreed to equally share revenues from forest carbon offset projects with coastal First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest. Since that time, the project has evolved to become one of the most significant in the world. It is the largest ecosystem service project area and the second largest source of carbon emissions reductions in the world. Global financial markets are rapidly emerging to value natural systems. From clean water to forests and biodiversity, these systems contribute to economic development and human well-being. Traditionally, we have borrowed these ‘ecosystem services’ from nature or taken them for free, but increasingly, markets are emerging that put a price and value on these resources. For instance, the forest carbon programs from the United Nations (REDD+) and the World Bank (FCPF) aim to safeguard the rights of indigenous populations while developing mechanisms that enhance greenhouse gas storage and capture from improved forestry practices.

Our goal is to examine how the global policy objective of climate change mitigation and adaptation can be achieved in a manner that is consistent with the rights and interests of indigenous peoples. By studying the implications of forest carbon projects for indigenous peoples in British Columbia, this research will inform the development and implementation of best practice in forest carbon and ecosystem service projects with appropriate social and environmental safeguards.

Our research focuses on three key questions:

1.How do potential and actual markets for carbon and related ecosystem services, mediated through non-indigenous institutions, impact the institutional frameworks and property rights of indigenous communities?

2.How might the financial benefits of these markets and programs affect social and economic conditions in indigenous communities and the local environment?

3.What are institutional design requirements that ensure that global demand for carbon sequestration occurs in a manner that ensures indigenous peoples benefit from their interactions with international carbon and ecosystem service markets?

Abstract: This collaborative project brings together researchers from the University of British Columbia and the University of Central Asia in order to develop a research framework that will guide the development of long-term socio-ecological research by UCA’s Mountain Societies Research Institute. MSRI’s Learning Landscapes program seeks to use participatory research centred at the three UCA campuses in order to better understand and help improve socio-ecological conditions. In addition to developing a theoretical framework for this effort, UBC and MSRI researchers are collaborating on specific multi-disciplinary research project to assess pasture health in the Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan, an agro-pastorlist area that is facing both changes in social systems (e.g. pasture governance systems) and ecological conditions.